This invention relates generally to pinball machines and more specifically to electromagnetic control of a ball on a playfield of a pinball machine. As used herein, "playfield" refers to the active playing area on a pinball machine.
Conventional pinball machines include a spring-loaded plunger for impelling a ball onto the upper portion of an inclined planar playfield. Various devices including bumpers, kickers, targets and flippers are provided on the playfield. On a conventional pinball machine, only the flippers are under the direct control of the player and are activated by depressing externally located buttons or levers. Other ball impelling devices, such as kickers of various types, react automatically to contact with the ball and are not under the direct control of the player.